1. Field of Invention
The subject matter of the present invention relates to liquid cooling towers of the type in which the liquid to be cooled flows downwardly within the tower through a series of vertically spaced grid or lattice-like structures referred to here as liquid contact plates and more specifically relates to an improved liquid contact plate support system for such cooling towers.
2. Background Art
In the general mode of operation of a cooling tower, a fan in the top of the cooling tower is actuated and draws air in through an opening at the base of the tower and upwardly through the tower to be exhausted to the atmosphere. Water at a relatively high temperature is fed into the top of the tower in a convenient manner. The water falls under the action of gravity through what is referred to as the tower fill assembly and is collected at the bottom of the tower. The descending water is contacted by the upwardly flowing atmosphere air which cools the water and enables the water to be reintroduced into an air conditioning system or other process using the water at a lower temperature than that at which the water entered the cooling tower. The present invention is primarily directed to the construction of the liquid contact plates which make up the cooling tower fill assembly and more specifically to a construction which enables the liquid contact plates to be interconnected and supported as an integral assembly at each tier level within the cooling tower.
In one type of support system, the liquid contact plates are joined to each other by a type of bracket such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,017. A plurality of liquid contact plates are operatively connected together by the brackets at the different elevations and are effectively stacked one liquid contact layer above the other in a tier-like arrangement. A plurality of laterally spaced flexible strands are supported from the top of the tower and passed through the various tiers of liquid contact plates. Suitable clamps are secured below the liquid contact plates to support the tier of contact plates above. The use of brackets to join the liquid contact plates together at each tier level has not proven satisfactory for many reasons among which has been the need for a very large quantity of brackets and the lack of providing a secure attachment for holding the various liquid contact plates in a particular tier level together.
While fluid contact plates have been interconnected in vertical arrays as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,468, so far as applicant is aware, it had not been previously known, prior to applicant's copending application Ser. No. 07/467,959, to form liquid contact plates so as to eliminate the need for the corner brackets while permitting the sides of the liquid contact plates to be abutted and interconnected one with the other to form relatively rigid tiers of liquid contact plates one above the other. Providing a still further improved connecting means for liquid contact plates which permits the sides of one liquid contact plate to be detachably but firmly connected to the sides of surrounding liquid contact plates becomes the principle object of the present invention. Other objects will become apparent as the description proceeds.